September 12, 2013

Not All Victims are Heroes

I once married a Muslim "man of color" and assumed, unthinkingly that, as an outsider himself, he might somehow identify with and make common cause with women.

I found that this misguided assumption was untrue and, in my new book, "An American Bride in Kabul," I write about my unsentimental education in such matters, an education which took place both in America and in Afghanistan long ago.

I had also once assumed that all formerly colonized peoples and Third World impoverished countries were filled with naturally noble inhabitants who were instinctively spiritual and kind to each other.

I quickly discovered that barbarism is indigenous to such regions, and that tribal and religious wars, the most profound misogyny, cruelty, and corruption were accepted asnormal." It was only a crime to criticize such practices.

We aspire to relate to them, to find common ground. To see that we're all the same, but the reality is we're not.